


When lacking a Valentine

by Melime



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Silly, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 16:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6016228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney didn't have a date, neither did John, but that didn't explain why John was acting so strangely around him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When lacking a Valentine

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Na falta de um encontro](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6016237) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



> A bit late, but I had this idea late in the afternoon (normally I write faster, but not when I woke up well before the sun). Somehow, it is just like me to post a random fic on Valentine's Day and then the actually Valentine's Day late (remember, I'm still working on my Christmas/New Year's fic from last year), but also, what can I say, I'm Brazilian, I grew up with June 12th not February 14th.

Rodney hated whomever came up with the idea of ‘celebrating holidays and culturally significant dates’. Not only did he had to deal with an absurd number of events, and had a hard time remembering which of his scientists celebrated what, but now he had to deal with Valentine’s Day. And worse, not only once or twice, but three times a year if he counted similar events. He hated Valentine’s Day; if he was dating someone, it was a chance to royally fuck up and end up single again, but if he was single, he had to deal with all the happy couples around him. He had actually tried to fire the only three Brazilian members of the expedition to cut that number to two, but Woolsey vetoed it as he considered that a form of discrimination. He would definitively try again before June.

When he saw John entering his lab, he knew that his day was about to get worse. The last thing he needed was John teasing him about his singleness.

“So, McKay, any plans tonight?” John asked leaning his hip against Rodney’s desk.

Rodney glared at him. “You know I don’t, so why don’t you just tell me who you plan on seeing and get out of here?” He knew he was being unfair, John never forced him to listen to any of his date plans, if he ever had date plans; for someone who flirted with every woman they met offworld, he didn’t seem to have much of a romantic life in Atlantis.

“Ouch, touchy. I was actually thinking of staying in and watching a movie. Wanna come? I’ve got Galaxy Quest on the last data burst.”

That caught Rodney by surprise. “Couldn’t get any dates?”

“No one I wanted,” John answered shrugging. “So, would you rather watch a good movie or stay here working all night?”

John was right, it was a good movie, and having any type of plans would get his mind off the holiday. “Fine, just come and get me when you want to watch it.” If he couldn’t remember to get away from work when he had an actual date, he was sure he would forget now.

“I’ll get us food, we can eat in my bedroom, away from all the couples.”

“Good idea.” Lunch had already been bad enough, and they did this sort of thing often enough that John would know what to get him.

“See you later then,” he said straitening up to leave.

If Rodney hadn’t been so focused on his hatred for that date, he might have thought that there was something odd with John’s behavior, but as it was, he was just grateful not to have a pathetic meal alone.

\---

What was odd, he figured, was that John looked good. Not that he didn’t always look good, even when they were just coming back from a mission and in desperate need of a shower, which was infuriating. But he had tight jeans and an untucked black button-up shirt with a couple of buttons open, which could still be considered casual, but wasn’t how he normally dressed for their movie nights. When he saw him, Rodney was sure John was going to tell him he had to cancel because he found a hot date. Not that he’d ever done that before, but then again he usually wear loose jeans and a t-shirt for movie nights.

“Ready?” John asked before he had a chance to question the clothes.

If John wasn’t going to comment on it, neither would Rodney. “Sure, let me just launch this simulation, I want to leave it running overnight.”

Now that his suspicions were raised, he noticed that John was acting strangely. Keeping an uncharacteristic amount of space between them as they walked, almost distant in their conversation, acting awkwardly for no apparent reason.

Dinner was MREs, which raised another red flag. Rodney loved them, of course, especially the ones that came with coffee, but John didn’t eat them if he had any other choice. “MREs?” Rodney asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What did you do to the kitchen staff?” John asked instead of answering. “Because tonight the main course options are chicken with lemon and pork with lemon.”

Rodney thought about how he accidentally cut power to the kitchen in the morning and then had to disassemble half their equipment to have everything working again, which happened dangerously close to the lunch rush. “Nothing at all. I should probably write a complaint to Woolsey.”

“Don’t worry, I talked to them, and tomorrow the menu goes back to normal. At least MREs are your favorites, aren’t they?”

“Yes, but why didn’t you get something else for you?”

John looked embarrassed, and paused for a brief moment, before saying, “And hear you complain about how you can’t even look at citrus without dying?”

Rodney thought there was something about that story that didn’t add up, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, so instead he chose one of the packs and went to the couch.

“Since it’s just the two of us, wouldn’t you rather watch it on the bed? It’s more comfortable.”

Rodney thought John’s bed was pretty awful, but it certainly was better than the couch, and again, it was something that they had done on occasion. “Fine, but I’ll have you know that your mattress is horrible.”

“Maybe you can help me pick a new one? Requisitions are open until next week.”

There was something definitively odd about that request, but Rodney couldn’t figure exactly what. “You are a grown man and you don’t even know what mattress to buy?”

“I got us blue jello for dessert,” John said, looking for an excuse to change the subject.

They watched the movie without incidents, and although Rodney had the impression that John was moving closer to him, he discarded that as an impression caused by the small bed. It wasn’t until John offered Rodney his own portion of blue jello that the strangeness of the situation hit critical levels.

“Alright, what’s going on here?” Rodney finally asked when John offered to make him some real coffee.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” John said, but he looked guilty.

“Those clothes? A movie that I couldn’t refuse watching? My favorite food that you happen to hate? My favorite dessert? Giving me your dessert? _Coffee_? Did I catch a space bug that will have me dead inside a week and you want to give me some comfort before giving me the news?”

John rubbed the back of his neck. “What? No, no space bugs, I promise you.”

“Then what? Because you are acting almost as if…” Then it hit him. “Oh.”

John winced. “It was a stupid idea, just forget about it.”

“You couldn’t eat the regular food in case we kissed, because this is a date. A Valentine’s Day date.”

“I said drop it. It was all Teyla’s idea anyway. Well, mostly. You can just go now and we can pretend this never happened,” John said defensively.

Rodney wanted to laugh, because those things were too weird and specific for Teyla to have suggested them, and he never thought John was this romantic in his own way, but he feared that would send the wrong message. “It seems like a waste, now that you went through all that trouble.”

“What?”

Rodney leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Although I do have to say that I like actually knowing that I have a date beforehand. I wouldn’t have worn my uniform.”

John needed a minute to catch on to that, then he smiled. “What can I do to compensate this oversight?”

Rodney pulled him for another kiss. “I’m sure we can think of something.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuse for this other than I love when one person doesn't know a date is a date, and that I think I've never done a Valentine's fic before. McKay's view on alone meals being pathetic does not reflect the author's view. Also, don't ask me why Rodney thought John would wear nice clothes to tell him he's dying, he's just trying to rationalize something that doesn't make sense to him.


End file.
